Time certainly got away from me today… not helped by an unexpected class rescheduling that threw off my entire plan for the day. *exhales* At the least, it's a class that's fully online, so I don't have too many problems. Just… unexpected.

Anyway, today's theme is sparring. I'll admit it turned out a bit shorter than I was thinking it would, but fight scenes aren't my forte. See how some of the fight scenes in Kamen Rider: Another Possibility ended up turning out. ...yeah, quick plug for something me and KKD recently did. Go check it out.

Enough stalling and plugging, let's get this going.

Disclaimers: Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, Koei Techmo, etc.

Byleth and Marianne stood across from each-other on a mock battlefield. The two just gave each-other a small smile before they each took a bow.

"Ready?" Byleth asked.

"As I'll ever be."

With that, both drew their weapons. While Byleth got out the Sword of the Creator, Marianne ended up pulling out a tome. Claude watched the two approach each-other a bit and then gave them a signal to start the sparring. With that, Marianne quickly generated a small blast of ice magic that Byleth managed to deflect.

Byleth then went for a sword swing with the sword extended out, but Marianne gracefully dodged out of the way. The dancing bluenette quickly started to move in some dancer like motions as Byleth went for a few more sword swings, only for Marianne to avoid the hits like they were nothing. She then casted some electric magic, which did manage to hit Byleth right on the shoulder.

"Not bad," he responded.

"Same to you."

Marianne kept up the magical blasts, only for Byleth to roll out of the way. He looked for an opening, then struck out the ground, which stopped Marianne's movements. He moved in and then lightly tapped her to indicate he had managed to land a hit. Marianne simply nodded, then rolled back a bit and sent a few magical blasts in his direction. Byleth quickly swung the Sword of the Creator like a whip to shatter the magic blasts before they got close enough to him.

The two kept trading the occasional hits and dodges as they moved around the mock battlefield, with the rest of the Golden Deer watching the exchange between the couple happen.

"It's almost like watching a very energetic dance…" Lorenz remarked.

"With those two? Anything can be like a flirting session or a date," Claude joked.

Byleth and Marianne exchanged looks at each-other, and then Byleth took some swings at her with the Sword of the Creator… only for Marianne to dodge like she was simply doing some kind of practice dance routine. Byleth gently blushed as he saw her graceful movement, which gave Marianne an opening. She quickly dismissed her tome and summoned a practice sword, then struck Byleth right on the back. He fell to the ground right on his stomach and then she held out the practice sword.

"Yield?" she asked with a bit of a cheeky grin on her face.

"...yield," Byleth sighed.

Marianne gave a soft giggle as she quickly dismissed her practice sword in a poof of magic before proceeding to help Byleth get back up.

"And that leaves the sparring score at 10 for Byleth, 14 for Marianne," Claude called out.

The couple looked to see Hilda update the scoreboard for their sparring sessions to reveal the numbers were indeed accurate. Byleth and Marianne both laughed a little bit at this result, then they simply smiled at each-other.

Evening rolled around and Marianne was in the middle of a little bit of dancing practice as she gracefully moved around. Byleth simply observed her as she practiced, though he partially hid it behind reading a book that he had. Marianne soon saw Byleth was nearby and walked over to his side, moving the book a bit out of his face.

"Thanks for the sparring session earlier, Profes- er… Byleth. Sorry, still getting used to that," Marianne told him.

"No worries. I'm just trying to make sure everybody's prepared for whatever comes our way," Byleth responded.

Marianne simply gave a small nod before she sat down beside him and the two simply observed the rising moon that signified the evening…

Like I said, length took a bit of a cut owing to stuff out of my hands and then getting sidetracked by other things. I try to keep on top of things in general, but it's really hard at times.

Don't really know what a favorite part was for this one. Could've been longer, but stuff happens.

Here's hoping that you come back for the next one… which will hopefully be a bit on the longer side.

Just Live More.